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During the only skit on her debut album, Kid Sister makes it clear: She isn't auditioning to be your dream date; you're auditioning to be hers. "Bachelor No. 1," she crows. "If I approached you on the street with this line, what would you say to me? / 'Is you John Lennon? 'cause I wanna hold yo' hand!' "

It's a silly but shrewd little moment; Kid Sister (née Melisa Young) knows female rappers have to define themselves before the rest of the world sells them short. So, like Missy Elliott, M.I.A., and others before, she IDs immediately as the woman who can bring the party, stocking her debut with quirky, dance-floor singles and a feisty, light- hearted energy. "Family Reunion," featuring David Banner, is a throwback to golden-'80s hip-hop, with innocent jokes of sunning and barbecuing, as Kid Sis rhymes/sings the blissed-out hook (though the real pipes come later from Estelle on doo-wop paean "Ladies First," no relation to Queen Latifah's). Last year's "Pro Nails," with fellow Chi-Towner Kanye West, is mixed even heavier (past all logic for an ode to pedicures), but it's still infectious.

If anything stalls this album, it's the giddy repetition -- "Beeper," for instance, basically consists of the title chanted into eternity. Yet even this fits with Kid Sister's vibe of retro irrepressibility. Dream Date's every track virtually dares you to resist her.